Earn 120 Karma, or Add One Badge and Skip It.
Spot Startups is on Submitator's list and we file it by the badge route. The details below are as spotstartups.com and its launch form stood on 1 October 2026.
Spot Startups is a free launch board that calls itself "The free, community-driven Product Hunt alternative". New products appear on a weekly board, ranked by the views and clicks they collect, and each launch keeps its own permanent page after its week. It holds 731 products so far.
There are two ways in and neither costs money. The Standard Queue asks for 120 karma, points you earn by taking part in the community, and gives you a nofollow link. The Priority Queue asks you to show their badge and gives you faster review and a "Do-follow SEO link".
That makes the badge a shortcut twice over: it skips the karma and it brings the followed link with it. We submit customers here by that route, with the badge served from the one component we install on their site.
| Form field | Details |
|---|---|
| Maker or Spotter | Pick one; Maker if you built it |
| Product Website URL | Plus Fetch Website Info to prefill |
| Product Name | Placeholder “e.g. Acme AI” |
| Short Description | One line, up to 160 characters |
| Thumb Logo | Fetched for a preview; an upload overrides it |
| Category | Up to 3 |
| Tags | Comma separated, as SaaS, Free, No-code |
| Long Description | Optional, a formatted text editor |
| Website Screenshot | Optional, a high-quality image |
| Submission Speed | Standard Queue or Priority Queue |
The Standard Queue is paid in time on their site: "Requires 120 karma (as fast as 3 days with daily activity)". The Priority Queue is paid in a badge: "Add the badge below to your website to instantly fast-track your submission." Only the second comes with a followed link, and the form will not submit on that route until the badge is verified.
Spot Startups at a glance
| What you get | Spot Startups |
|---|---|
| Money owed | None, on either route |
| Karma route | 120 karma, nofollow link |
| Badge route | Faster review, followed link |
| The board | Weekly, revealed Mondays at 14:30 UTC |
| Ranking | Views plus clicks for the week |
| Product page | Permanent, index and follow |
| Recent launches followed | 18 of 19 since 14 September |
| Domain Rating | 37 on our checker |
| Filed for you by Submitator | Badge route, badge kept live, from $29 |
Per spotstartups.com, its home page and FAQ, /terms, /privacy, /llms.txt, its winners, makers and browse pages, its Directory Tracker and every listing in its weekly archives from the week of 3 August 2026, read on 1 October 2026; nothing was submitted, voted or commented. The submit form sits behind a login, so its fields, the two queue cards and the badge box are quoted from our founder's screenshots taken the same day. Karma reasons (visiting a product, commenting, replying, a daily bonus and 7-day and 30-day streaks) are the labels in the site's own page script; their point values are not published. The weekly reveal is the home page countdown, "Next batch launches in", which its script times to "the next Monday 14:30 UTC (9:30am EST) weekly batch reveal"; the score is shown on each card as views plus clicks. The census covers all 270 listings launched from the week of 3 August to 1 October 2026: 35 carry a followed Visit Website button (rel="noopener") and 235 a nofollow one (rel="nofollow noopener"), each pointing straight at the product with ?ref=spotstartups.com added. In the weeks of 14, 21 and 28 September, 18 of 19 were followed. A link back to spotstartups.com was found on 29 of the 35 followed products' sites and on none of 74 nofollow products' homepages checked. Listing pages carry meta robots "index, follow" and a canonical to themselves, and two re-fetched with a Googlebot user agent were identical; the site serves no robots.txt. The terms quoted are sections 2 and 3, "Last Updated: February 2026"; the Growth Gap Report is described in the home page FAQ with no price given. 731 products and the weekly counts come from the site's own browse and week pages. Domain Rating is Ahrefs' figure via submitator.com/domain-rating-checker, which returned 37; the domain was registered on 12 February 2026. Submitator's founder states that we submit customers to Spot Startups through the Priority Queue, and that we write a unique description for each directory, cut images to each site's format and keep every directory's badge live through one component. Starter is $29 for 30 directories, Growth $49 for 60 and Scale $79 for 100, each paid once and chosen in the dashboard; a rejected submission is credited back as another directory to choose, and refunds follow the 30-day conditions in our terms.
A Monday board for new products
Spot Startups works in weeks. The home page countdown, "Next batch launches in", runs to the next Monday at 14:30 UTC; the week's launches share one board and each card shows its score as views plus clicks. When the week ends the top three are fixed for good: "once a week ends, its results are permanent."
The board is small enough to be seen on. The three most recent weeks carried seven, six and six launches, so a new product shares its week with a handful of others rather than a crowd. Off the board, every product keeps its page, open to indexing, with a Visit Website button that sends visitors straight to the site with ?ref=spotstartups.com added.
The karma road
The Standard Queue costs nothing and needs no badge, but it needs standing on the site: "Requires 120 karma (as fast as 3 days with daily activity)". Karma comes from taking part. Their page script lists the reasons it is awarded: visiting other makers' products, commenting, replying, a bonus for showing up each day and further bonuses for 7-day and 30-day streaks.
It is a fair system for a community board, and it suits a founder who wants to be part of one. The link at the end of it is nofollow: on that route the Visit Website button carries rel="nofollow noopener".
The badge road
The Priority Queue swaps the karma for a badge. The form shows the embed code and a "Verify badge now" button, and the submit button stays locked until it passes: "Complete Verification to Submit". Their privacy page describes the check as scanning your site's HTML for the badge.
In return the review is faster and the link is followed. Their FAQ puts it plainly: "It's a fair exchange, not a paid feature." The terms want the badge in plain view: hiding it "via CSS/HTML tricks" leads to "the immediate removal of your listing."
Followed where the badge is
The listings match the exchange. Since the week of 14 September, 18 of the 19 launches link out followed. Across every listing since early August, the followed ones are 35 of 270, and on 29 of those 35 the product's own site links back to Spot Startups. None of the 74 nofollow products we checked does.
So the followed link here is not a lottery: it follows the badge.
What to put in the form
The form starts with a question, Maker or Spotter, and then your URL, with a Fetch Website Info button that pulls in what it can, including a logo preview. The short description is a one-liner of up to 160 characters, and it is the line printed under the product name on every board card, so it has to say what the product does on first read.
Up to three categories and a comma-separated list of tags place the product on the board. The long description and the screenshot are optional, and both are worth filling: the long description is where a visitor who opened your card learns why to click Visit Website.
Why we take the badge road for you
Karma is earned by being on the site every day, which is time a founder rarely has in launch week. The badge asks for no daily visits, and keeping it up is ours to do: Submitator installs one badge component once and keeps every directory's badge live. Among the badges it serves is this one, so the listing qualifies for the Priority Queue and the followed link without a karma count.
Their terms allow a submission by "an authorized representative of the product", which is what we are when we file for you. The 160-character line is written for this field, with fresh text for each directory you choose, and the logo and screenshot are cut to fit.
The verdict on Spot Startups
Submit, by the badge road. It is free, the listing is permanent and followed once the badge is verified, and a weekly board of six or seven launches gives a new product room to be noticed. The karma road is there for founders who want the community; for everyone else the badge is the quicker way in.
Badges Submitator places + keeps live
How to submit to Spot Startups, step by step
- 1
Log in, or register for free
The form sits behind a free login, with Google or an email and password. Choose Maker if you built the product.
- 2
Paste your URL and fetch
Fetch Website Info fills in what it can, including a logo preview. Check the name it picks up before you go on.
- 3
Write the 160-character line
One sentence on what the product does and for whom. It is the line people read on the board.
- 4
Choose categories, then tags
The categories that fit best, then tags separated by commas, like their example SaaS, Free, No-code.
- 5
Fill the long description and add a screenshot
Both are optional. Use them anyway: they are what turns a view on your card into a click.
- 6
Choose the Priority Queue and verify the badge
Copy their embed code to your live site exactly as given, press Verify badge now, then submit. The Standard Queue instead needs 120 karma.
- 7
Let Submitator carry the badge
Our one component serves the Spot Startups badge and keeps it up, and we file the listing for you.
$0 here, once the badge is up. $29 for thirty directories with it handled.
One payment, every directory named in your dashboard with its Domain Rating on the card, badges installed and kept live where one is wanted and the ones you tick filed for you.
Free either way. The badge makes it followed.
Spot Startups lists new products on a weekly board, free. Without a badge you need 120 karma from daily activity and get a nofollow link; with their badge you get faster review and a followed one, and 18 of the last 19 launches went that way. We take the badge road for you, with the badge kept live by one component, from $29. The whole catalog.
FAQ
Is Spot Startups free?
Yes, on both routes. The Standard Queue is free and needs 120 karma; the Priority Queue is “Free w/ Backlink” and needs their badge displayed on your pages. Their FAQ mentions one paid extra, an optional Growth Gap Report: a manual review of your product, offered after you submit, with no public price.
Is Spot Startups dofollow?
With the badge, yes. Their FAQ: “Add a dofollow link back to Spot Startups on your own site, and we'll upgrade your listing's backlink to dofollow too.” On the listings we read, the Visit Website button carried rel="noopener" on the badge route and rel="nofollow noopener" otherwise; 18 of the 19 launches in the three weeks from 14 September were followed.
What is karma on Spot Startups?
Points for taking part in the community. Their site awards it for visiting other makers' products, commenting, replying, showing up each day and keeping a 7-day or 30-day streak. The Standard Queue needs 120 of it, which the form puts at “as fast as 3 days with daily activity”.
What happens if I hide the Spot Startups badge?
It costs you the listing. Their terms say that “hiding the badge via CSS/HTML tricks will result in the immediate removal of your listing.”
When do Spot Startups launches go live?
On a weekly board. The home page countdown, “Next batch launches in”, runs to the next Monday at 14:30 UTC, and the week's launches are then ranked by views plus clicks until the week ends. The top three of each completed week stay on their winners page.
Can someone else submit my startup to Spot Startups?
Yes, if they act for you. Their terms ask that the submitter be “the creator, owner, or an authorized representative of the product being submitted”, which is the role we take when we file a listing for a customer.
What is Spot Startups' Domain Rating?
37 on Ahrefs via our checker, 1 October 2026, for a domain registered in February 2026. On the badge route that is the domain behind a followed link to your product.
Does Submitator submit to Spot Startups?
Yes, through the Priority Queue. Our one badge component puts their badge on your pages, so the listing qualifies for the followed link without karma, and the short description is written for their 160-character field. From $29 for thirty directories.
More submit-to guides.
Spot Startups costs $0. Thirty directories cost $29, badges included.
One payment. Each directory is named with its Domain Rating on the card before you choose it, badges are installed and kept live where one is wanted and a rejection is swapped for another directory.